YCA Blog

Jul24

The Top Five Featuring E'mon Lauren

by Jose Olivarez

Welcome to the Top Five.

It's Monday and that means it's back to business. If you're looking for inspiration, we got you covered. Every Monday, we invite some of
our favorite artists to share five links that inspire them. Tune in to find new music, poems, and more.

Today, we have E'mon Lauren sharing her Top Five.

Loiter squad : Greatest Cooking Show of All Time

As an artist that is always broke, I have come to learn that struggle strikes ingenuity. And ingenuity can makes you some bomb ass Ramen, Waffles,
and Hamburger Helper.

Since the most recent and never ending shenanigans of R Kelly, and many other vessels of pure talent we have come to known overtime, I was naturally
forced to think, “As a society, do we really trump talent over morals”. In thoughts on views of myself verses society, I was a left with a question..
“How much pure talent am I really willing to let go of in light of my personal morals?”

Photography projects are a deep passion of mine. My most recent book “Commando” examines the intersectionality of womanism and the hood. I have been
woking on ideas of how I can excel a photography series that I can have insert in my book. I have been greatly inspired by Dina Goldstein’s: Fallen
Princes and the way she tells of the motif of a story in a clear, consistent, organized way.

Anyone who knows me knows my obseession with Cardi B. I cannot begin to explain how proud I am of her . So many dudes tired to stunt on her. Claim
they had a part in who she is. But she stands her ground. Still is the loud, blk, strong, sexy woman, that makes dat bred. Don’t care about haters,
or effboiis feelings. ITS ABOUT THAT SHMONEY and handling yo business. She is my world okay. Nuff said. Dats it. TEAM CARDI

This is my affirmation poem. Sketched tattoo. Mirror sticky note. “I am the queen of my hood”. My home. And this poem reminds me that I am standing.
On everything thats mines. And its great. Cause my land is my body. And mines.

E’mon Lauren is a scorpio enthusiast and a firm believer in Dorthy Dandridge reincarnation. Born November 9, 1996, E’mon explores the philosophies
and intersectionalities of womanism and the hood. She holds the most recent title of Chicago’s first and very own Youth Poet Laureate by Young
Chicago Authors and New York City Urban Word Press. Titled March of 2016, Lauren has continued to rack competitions/championships under her belt.
A former Kuumba Lynx Performance Ensemble slam team member and Louder Than a Bomb Champ, Indy Finalist (2014), and College Slam (2016), E’mon continued
the spirit of the slam, competing in Brave New Voices (2013, 2014) The Guild Complex Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Poetry Competition (2016). A member
and recipient of Young Chicago Author’s Bomb Squad (2014, 2015), Lauren has developed a portfolio of poems, theatre, and love in different fonts,
later being published in “The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop” (2015). She would later be debuting her first playwright
“Commando”, a one-womyn show at The Chicago Hip Hop Theatre Fest (2016) which would later be transformed into her first chap book of poems, soon
to be released by Haymarket (2017). Opening for people such as, Chuck D and DJ Lorde of Public Enemy, Jamila Woods, Common, and more, her most
recent features include Chicago Magazine’s: The New Bohemia (2016), Chicago Tribune: Me, My Shelf, and I (2016), and WGN Radio Interview with Justin
Kauffman (2016). E’mon continues to perform in spaces such as at the Goodman Theatre, Pitchfork Music Festival, Cinespace Studios, and more. She
currently works as a teaching artist in Chicago, and makes efforts to challenge the silencing of youth’s stories through their diasporas.